Final Pre-Election JOI Report: Personal Income Down, Personal Taxes Up

Providence, RI — Despite recent endorsements of status quo lawmakers and policies by high-profile political and media elite, voters should be concerned that that Rhode Island is moving in the wrong direction. This according to the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity which today announced that personal income dropped, keep the Ocean State mired in 48th place nationally in the Center’s September Jobs & Opportunity Index (JOI).

In the final JOI report prior to November’s elections, revised data shows that Rhode Islanders saw personal income drop by a whopping $589,000,000 as compared with what was previously reported for 2016; this in addition to an increase in all state and local taxes collected, as highlighted in the August JOI report.

“The ratio of income earned vs taxes paid is going in the wrong direction, and underscores that our state also has the worst business climate in the nation,” commented Justin Katz, research director for the Center. “Political leaders point to a lower unemployment rate as reason to continue their policies, but our JOI report shows that real families are suffering the burden from paying for the state’s targeted corporate welfare strategy. Voters are advised to reject the rigged status quo in November, including most spending bonds that favor special interests, and instead demand that lawmakers adopt broad-based tax, regulatory, and spending reductions that will make Rhode Island a better place to raise a family and build a career.”

The Center’s monthly JOI report is based on state and local tax collection data from the U.S. Census and on income data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

Rhode Island has not gained ground on the national JOI metric, remaining – as it has for years – in the bottom five among all states. JOI is a broader and more accurate measure of employment and well-being than the traditionally cited and highly narrow unemployment rate, which has fluctuated more dramatically in recent years for Rhode Island, but which is not an accurate barometer of economic growth or family prosperity.

Supporting the findings of the JOI metric, Rhode Island also ranks 48th in the Family Prosperity Index, the broadest national measure of family well-being.

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